KUU Space Agency (different missions, updated every once in a while) [LOTS OF PICS]

[User Unrelated]

I love KSP, and I run a LOT of missions, but only some are worthy of being typed up. I'll come post up some of my missions here when I do something interesting!

This will be less of a story-based thing, and more of a place to better explain in detail some of the crazy things I do. (and just show off some of my ship designs, I love sharing my creations!)

*March-13-2014

Operation: Eastern Rift Analysis

Description: A manned Mun base will be sent to the mouth of the Eastern Far-side Rift, and an autonomous rover will be sent into the canyon to analyze the walls of an impact crater that have exposed ancient layers of rock.

Goal: To better understand the origin and nature of the Mun's Eastern Far-side Rift

The ship:

I didn't document this as well as I should, but I crammed a habitation module, 2 rovers, and custom retractable landing gear into an expanded 2m fairing of reasonable height.

Landing gear deployed, rovers jettisoned:

The rover:

*self Righting

*Retractable analysis probe (just a big light so the cameras (that don't actually exist) can see better)

The Trek:

total distance (straight line): 15.8Km

I knew this was going to be a long one, but I just settled in and kept on pushing.

I crept over to the edge of this crater to get an opportune scenery shot, even though it was a bit out of my way.

The canyon is in sight!

The walls are curiously steep, and appear rounded and weathered. There is no sign of collapse, or other anomalies.

Around 10Km out, I had a little mishap, and busted a wheel.

It was too far to send someone to repair it, so I had to keep on pushing.

I used the incline of the canyon wall to balance the rover on the 3 remaining wheels, and keep the damaged one off the ground.

The climb into the crater was incredibly steep, and progress was made very slowly.

The rover finally crested the crater wall, and deployed it's analysis scope, ready to do some science!

The data retrieved by this rover will go on to help determine the origin of the curious canyon, and further the understanding of Kerbin's nearest neighbor for future generations.

Some curiosities to note, is that from orbit, the crater appears to be of normal shape and dimension, but on the surface, the mid-section of the crater is spread down the walls of the canyon like a stretched-out photograph. Comparing the crater wall debris to the rock exposed on the side of the canyon suggests that the canyon is MUCH older than the impact crater, but logic would suggest that the canyon formed AFTER the impact crater was made. If the impact occurred after the canyon was formed, then the wall of the canyon would have been blasted away by the impact, and no such anomaly is found.

The rounded and weathered nature of the canyon is also curious in it's own right. This suggests that the rift may have been formed by a flowing liquid of some kind, instead of the earlier-accepted hypothesis of geologic activity.

Edited March 13, 2014 by User Unrelated